“The Fall” which is considered to be philosophical novel, was published in 1956. The author opens widely such method as ‘the stream of consciousness’ in the text: there is not actually any logical sequence of events, it’s a monologue of a former Parisian lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence, his confession.
The narrator meets his friend in Amsterdam's bar "Mexico City" and tells him the story of his life within five days. But he tells more about his views in the course of his life, than about the factual, ‘material” events. The narrator loves himself, and as opposed to this, he despises anyone else. But he never shows this contempt to other people, he always plays the role of a kind, sincere man. And the author shows this duplicity within the whole story. Only in the end the narrator dares to open a tiny part of his heart to the other person: there is one thing which he regrets about – it’s a woman, whom he hasn’t saved from making suicide.
The story involves such philosophical issues as freedom, love, meaninglessness and absurdity of human existence, and many others. The title of the story is deeply symbolic. "Falling" here is both the physical action performed by the woman in black whom the protagonist hasn’t saved, and the moral decay to which the soul of the protagonist is exposed, and in general - the entire European world. Somewhat feverishly, but, nevertheless, clearly, with simple phrases and sentences, Camus shows the true essence of human nature. In his monologue-confession, Jean-Baptiste Clamence periodically departs from the main storyline (the history of his life), talking about strangers to him or talking about philosophical and religious topics.
Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books.
